LEARNED FRENCH & SPANiSH BUT CAN'T UNDERSTAND IT?

Question

I learned French at school up to GCSE level where I got an A so was fairly good at it, I have also just finished doing a linguaphone spanish course, Here lies the problem, If I watch say French or Spanish TV I do not understanding anything, if theres writing or subtitles on a program yes I'm fine but I simply can not understand these people speaking it, Maybe they speak to fast, or its there local accents etc but I don't have a clue what they are saying without subtitles.

Anyone else get this? I mean I had no trouble understand the people on my language tapes, just people speaking in real life I don't have a clue

Answer 1

On such language tapes and especially for GCSE the speakers do not tend to use as much slang and what seems like nonsence expressions, like, 'je donne ma langue aux chats!' Which literally means giving your tongue to the cats but actually means, to give up or give in. Slang's presence in films is bewildering, I feel your confusion!! Hehe! If you can, learn some slang words, it may help, maybe the speed of the spoken language is a problem for you, I don't know but, GCSE and maybe AS level is nothing compared to proper spoken French and Spanish. If you've had a break from the languages, you do lose it. Try to get to grips with the basics again, you always need the foundations and concentrate just gettin a jist of the subject or issue helps you understand the language. Good luck!

Answer 2

It probably is a combination of the two, you have remember just like you really didn't learn how to speak English in school, but how to do it properly, native speakers didn't learn how to speak their language in school, they learned it from home. And just like us they have slang, and sayings that make no sense. It's a real shame that language programs don't teach the culture as well as the language. Watching the TV and foreign films helps, just do it often where you hear the words over and over again. Learning a language is both a visual and an audio process. We learned what words sounded like before we learned how to read in English, but with a foreign language it's bass ackwards, we learn what the language looks like supposedly while we are learning to say it, but not really. Some people learn to speak Spanish by living with native speakers. It's the only way I know for it to become second nature like it is for the native speakers that you watch on the tv or in movies.

Answer 3

Moderately. All of these languages are Romance languages (they descend from Vulgar Latin), and therefor concepts of grammar are nearly impossible. Really, though, it's kind of something that gets easier as you go on; learning your third language will be far easier than learning your second; learning your fourth will be easier than your third, and so on. Portuguese is my fifth language and though I've hardly begun, other than pronunciation it's pretty easy. Portuguese is a little different than the others; I can't quite put my finger on why, but it is. One thing you'll notice if you study French or Italian (not sure about Romanian) is that on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal) they kept using one tense - usually called the preterite/preterit - that are nearly dead in the others, other than sporadic use in writing. Don't let that confuse you - called the passato prossimo in Italian and the passé composé in French is the tense that's a combination of the Spanish/Portuguese preterite and present perfect. Side note - could you put the name of this site you mentioned in your review of the best answer?

Answer 4

I had the same problem with French at the beginning, I could understand nothing at all after some years of courses! The only solution is to keep on watching the tv listening carefully to it many hours a week: it'll take some years and it can be very frustrating at times, but you'll end up understanding everything in the end, event challenging films, I promise!

Answer 5

Without prolonged immersion, keep on watching a lot of TV and movies in those languages and listen to the radio too. First you will understand a word here and there or a few phrases but be patient and your comprehension will expand. Prolonged immersion is still the only way to be fluent.

Answer 6

As an adult, your brain has already finished developing its "language" centers. If you didn't start learning a foreign language by the age of 6, you will very likely never be absolutely fluent.

I majored in Spanish in college, spent a summer semester immersed in the language at a seminar in Mexico, and am required to speak spanish to customers in my store on a weekly basis.

My Spanish is still terrible --I understand most "business" talk, but their inter-personal conversations fly over my head.

Answer 7

a way to learn a language to speak is to stay 2 years in the country,without learn it at school BEFORE,I tried with spanish.
I learned danish with assimil,but i should forget almost all what i learned to be able to speak danish,plus the bad habits I took with the book and tapes.
I learned english 4 years at school (undtil i was sixteen) plus 4 months in GB (small holidays 10-15 days each time) to speak english with a really bad accent.
the school is not enough.experience in the country much better

Answer 8

You have to live in France or Spain for a year to learn the language

Answer 9

You're simply not at the advanced level yet. The advanced level, for understanding television well, etc., takes several years to reach. Keep working on it.

Answer 10

wot u need to do is brush up on yr conversational french an spanish.Av u got french or spanish freinds?If u av talk to them,it helped a lot